7 Days: You Get What You Give - But You'd Better Be Genuine!
/5am… time to get started on the new day and start my new plan of reaching out to others!
But this time, my focus was on helping them, not helping myself. Here is how each point in the plan went:
1. FOCUS ON TEACHING, NOT SELLING
I was blown away by the response from subscribers as I checked my inbox in the morning. It was full of support, awesome inspirational quotes, and truly kind words.
There aren't many people who get to wake up to that and I am deeply grateful.
I was worried about how you would respond to me sharing this story, and I am so glad that those worries weren’t justified!
That gave me the small win I needed to start sharing my story on Kickstarter forums.
Before, I had been posting things like:
Result: 2 visits, 0 pledges.
So I changed it to: “How I’m saving my Kickstarter when everything once seemed lost.”
Result: 38 visits, 4 pledges, 6 replies, and even more coming….
I’d say that’s a success! I can’t wait to share the story even more on day 7!
2. SUBSCRIBE TO AT LEAST 3 BLOGS AND SEND THEM GENUINE EMAILS OF PRAISE
Now I was excited!
So I looked up the top 100 self-development blogs to find who the best of the best were and hopefully find some that I would enjoy. I was looking to offer praise for at least one article that I really liked from all 3 blogs.
I started by looking at sites that get around the same traffic as me – Willpowered would have ranked 52nd on the list if it was written last month – and I started to browse their sites for their best articles.
To be blunt, I didn’t like what I saw.
I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but they were full of posts like this. “8 Ways to Overcome Fear…” “5 Strategies for Living a Purposeful Life…”, etc. Each had a simple tip and a paragraph with the author’s opinion.
No story…no science…no substance.
To be fair, these authors are doing something right and I give them credit for building an audience (it’s not easy!)
However, as someone who takes the time to research, tell stories, and cite my sources, articles like that just seem shallow. But, I thought, they have an audience, so I’ll subscribe and praise anyway!
After all, praising is what this is about!
Then came time to send the email…and I snapped out of it. I couldn’t give praise because I didn’t really believe in what I was saying. I would just be doing the same self-serving thing all over again.
So I ditched the list for today (I spent too much time on it at this point) and decided to reach out to someone I follow, but I didn’t think would respond - Chris Bailey. Chris is to productivity what I am to willpower.
I remembered that he just announced his book was on pre-order, so I wanted to congratulate him as someone who knows the struggle. Here’s my email:
Every word genuine. A couple of hours later, I hear back from him thanking me and asking for a link to my Kickstarter page – he pledged $45 (far more than the cost of his book!)
This is someone I didn’t even think would respond!
It’s amazing how far genuine support can go – can’t wait to do it again.
3. REVIEW 3 KICKSTARTER PROJECTS AND BACK ANY I BELIEVE IN
After my forum post, I didn’t even need to browse Kickstarter!
I had people reply to me (all of which backed The Will of Heroes) asking me to check out their projects and give them feedback.
There was only one that I backed, (which I cannot wait for!), because just like with reaching out to bloggers, I only want to back projects that I genuinely believe in.
I'm looking forward to seeing my replies tomorrow!
4. ANSWER 3 QUESTIONS ON FORUMS
Besides my own posts, I also answered the questions from the community.
One thing was clear: there are those who are looking to contribute to the community, and those who are just asking a question as a cover to help spread the word about their project. They really don’t care about your answer.
That certainly reinforced my idea of being genuine.
I could see exactly how my earlier posts were viewed by the public. No wonder I got only 2 views!
It didn't make a huge impact yet, but I will certainly answer another 3 questions on day 7!
5. CONTINUE TO THOUGHTFULLY ANSWER EVERY SUBSCRIBER EMAIL
This was obviously a success. Again, thank you for the words of encouragement, inspiration, and support.
You guys are awesome!
Please do not hesitate to ever email me with anything I can do to help.
Results:
- What we needed today to reach our goal: $463
- What we raised today from 11 backers: $766
- Key learning: Support others, but be genuine (people can tell!)
- Key takeaway for tomorrow: Reach out to more writers/bloggers I truly admire.
